Gaseous contaminants of natural gas streams, particularly hydrogen sulfide, may be removed by the various processes reviewed in Maddox, Gas and Liquid Sweetening (1974) Campbell Petroleum Series. Most prominent among those, as a replacement for the classic iron oxide bed process, is the commercial amine process. Installations to carry out this process are expensive, and are not found feasible where gas wells are small and remote from each other.
Slurry processes for such a purpose have not found wide acceptance. In addition to the problem of reacting the hydrogen sulfide, other problems presented are excessive foaming, the danger of formation of hydrates which would clog the system, and incorporation of unacceptably large amounts of liquid and water into the gas stream.